


Monster Child

by twilightstarr



Series: Golden Walls [4]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: FIx It, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mentions of Death, competitive violence, mentions of gore, referenced canon death, the windmire tournament
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-02-01 09:26:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12702033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilightstarr/pseuds/twilightstarr
Summary: How Xander met Peri and why he made the decision to hire her





	Monster Child

**Author's Note:**

> I've seen discussions with people wondering why Xander would have chosen someone like Peri--a good question. This is my attempt to make sense of it. 
> 
> Post-A Real Family (Not a Half Family) and contains spoilers for it. Do what you will with that information.

Several months had passed since the deaths of Xander’s retainers, but he’d ignored inquiries about if he had any replacements in mind yet--until his father had finally cared enough to bring it up.

That was why Xander was here, spectating this year’s tournament in Windmire. No one could truly replace the companions he had lost, and he didn’t feel ready to fill their places, but for showing up here, he could at least claim to be searching. Maybe if one of the top competitors was impressive enough as a fighter and tolerable enough as a person, Xander would hire them, and they could have an agreeable but superficial relationship to appease the court, but he had doubts about that second criterion. 

Xander’s mind drifted to Arthur, the vigilante he'd met in the underground city who had shown him and his sister mercy and kindness when they'd needed it most. He was a good young man, someone Xander would be honored to call a comrade and potentially a friend. Yet, at the same time, he couldn't bear the thought of failing Arthur, of letting him meet the same fate the other two had. After Cassius, if he were to lose anyone else dear to him… Xander was afraid it would break him. 

There was a participant who stood out from the others: a woman with blue and pink hair--a monster in battle, but a child when she cheered in victory and waved at her audience. She seemed to be the only one who wasn't aware that she was being observed by the crown prince, and the only one who wasn't making a conscious effort to impress him. It was as though she'd decided on a whim that she was going to battle in a tournament, receiving a few warnings for rule-breaking that looked ignorant rather than dishonorable, yet her winning streak grew. Despite not knowing what she was doing, she fought her way to fourth place. That made Xander curious. What could she do when she _did_ know what she was doing? 

He approached her after the tournament. “Hello. I am Prince Xander. Peri, I believe?” 

“Yep. P for pulverize, E for eviscerate, R for ruin, I for impale! Hi!” she beamed.

That was the strangest introduction Xander had ever heard. “You do realize you're speaking to royalty.” 

“Yeah, you said that already,” Peri answered, looking genuinely confused. 

Maybe it wasn't intentional disrespect, rather something that hadn't developed quite right. Xander decided formalities weren't that important anyway. 

Her gruesome attitude, however, was another matter. “You enjoy violence?” he asked. 

“Yeah! It's what I'm best at, and it's lots of fun!” 

So, Peri was not a principled person. He was done here. 

Unless… she was enough of the opposite to have a use. 

“Peri, would you be able to kill anyone I needed you to, without hesitation?” 

“Yeah, sure! Who do you want me to stab?” she agreed. 

“No one right this moment, but in the future, I may need you to. I'm looking for a retainer,” he realized he needed to explain. 

“Oh, what does a retainer do?” 

“Mainly, act as a bodyguard and accompany their liege in battle. I may also assign you other tasks or missions as needed. It pays well. Would you be interested?” 

“So, I’d kill people for you and get paid for it?” 

“More or less.” 

“Yay! I'll do it.” 

“Hold on just a minute. I'd like a match with you myself first. I understand you're probably tired after the tournament, so perhaps we could schedule--” 

“Nah, I'm fine. Let's go!” 

Did she just interrupt him? Stranger yet, Xander found he didn't mind if Peri talked to him the same way she would to a regular person. Perhaps it wasn’t prince-like, but being a prince all the time was exhausting. “Very well.” 

Peri was fearsome, but not more so than Xander could handle. He held his ground as she barraged him, eventually finding an opening and disarming her. Though she'd been eager to fight, he could tell she was indeed fatigued, yet she proved to be persistent. By the time they were finished, she was truly exhausted. 

“Aww, I lost!” Peri cried. 

“Yes, but you've met my expectations,” Xander replied. 

“So I get to be your retainer?” 

“Yes.” 

“Yay! I think I like you, Prince Xander!” Peri glomped her new lord. 

With Peri at his side to spill the blood for him, Xander dared to hope he could survive whatever heart-wrenching orders lay ahead in the rest of his father’s reign.


End file.
